How to LSBize an Init Script

This is a short documentation about how to make an Init Script LSB-compliant. Most of this page has been pulled from a [http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/08/msg01172.html message by Petter Reinholdtsen] on [http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel Debian-devel].

This page is a quick and dirty draft. It is based on the content in <URL:http://refspecs.freestandards.org/LSB_2.1.0/LSB-generic/LSB-generic/initscrcomconv.html>. Is it recommended to read if you want to know more.

Add a block like this in the init.d script (example based on xdebconfigurator): 

  ### BEGIN INIT INFO
  # Provides:          xdebconfigurator
  # Required-Start:    $syslog
  # Required-Stop:     $syslog
  # Should-Start:      $local_fs
  # Should-Stop:       $local_fs
  # Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
  # Default-Stop:      0 1 6
  # Short-Description: Generate xfree86 configuration at boot time
  # Description:       Preseed X configuration and use dexconf to
  #                    generate a new configuration file.
  ### END INIT INFO

All sections except the description-sections are space separate lists.

Provides should list the name of this service, normally the script name but might also list the name of services it "replaces".

Required-Start are services needed to start this service. These services must start before this service. Required-Stop are services used by this service, and this service should stop before the listed services are stopped.

Should-Start are services that if present should start before this service, but this service can start if the listed services are missing. Should-Stop are services that if present should be stopped after this service.

Default-Start is the run levels where this service should be started by default, and Default-Stop is the run levels where this service should be stopped by default.

Description and short-description are fairly obvious.

For dependency tracking, the required- and should- are important, and the rest is unused. The default runlevels are used by insserv to keep track of which rc#.d directory to update when a service is added for the first time, and should reflect the intent of the service.

There are some "virtual"system service names, listed in <URL:http:/refspecs.freestandards.org/LSB_2.1.0/LSB-generic/LSB-generic/facilname.html>. These are:

$local_fs

all local filesystems are mounted

$network

low level networking (ethernet card; may imply PCMCIA running)

$named

daemons which may provide hostname resolution (if present) are running. For example, daemons to query DNS, NIS+, or LDAP.

$portmap

daemons providing ["SunRPC"]/ONCRPC portmapping service as defined in RFC 1833 (if present) are running all remote

$remote_fs

filesystems are mounted. In some LSB run-time environments, filesystems such as /usr may be remote. Many applications that require $local_fs will probably require also require $remote_fs.

$syslog

system logger is operational

$time

the system time has been set, for example by using a network-based time program such as ntp or rdate, or via the hardware Real Time Clock.